20 August 2012

Under the Microscope

I had a first microscope look at the organic material between the coins today. This is the blacky peaty stuff that may be the remains of the bags or baskets the coins were moved in.

I had a first microscope look at the organic material between the coins today. This is the blacky peaty stuff that may be the remains of the bags or baskets the coins were moved in. Using our Olympus compound microscope at magnifications of 100X and 400X I could see quite a lot. This is not my area of expertise but some of the material was clearly plant remains, with the cell structure well preserved. Other parts of it were animal hairs. The most interesting find on this first look was the leg of an arthropod. This must have been extremely small, like a mite, as the whole leg was visible at 100X. Preservation appears to be very good so hopefully we will find a lot more inside the hoard. I'm sending the initial images I've taken to the British Museum in the hope that they will be able to make more of them than I can.